of paris



UNITED STATES JULES ERNEST HESSE AND MATHIAS PARAF-JAVAL, OF PARIS, FRANCE,

Patented January 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

ASSIGNORS TO JEAN DIEDERIOHS, OF LYONS, FRANCE.

PROCESSOF TRANSFERRING AND PRINTING.

SPEGIFIUATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 748,604, dated January 5, 1904.

Application filed September 16, 1899. Serial No. 730,764. (No specimens.)

" To aZZ whom it may concern:

to is due only to the varnish. Such products are not capable of withstanding the usual cleansing operations and agents as rubbing and soaping or the action of hydrocarbons or carbon sulfid or bisulfid or the like, because these agents efiect the separation of the coloring-matter and varnish from the fabric. Further, in these cases where the inks are fixed to the fabric by the adhesion of the varnish thereto the fabric is not only stiffened by the varnish, but the beauty and purity of the colors are reduced.- The lithographically-printed products, on the other graphic printing.

hand, are of a degree of fineness and softness which cannot be attained by any other process of printing.

. In the usual fabric-printing establishments 1 the coloring-matter dyes (in its proper sense) the fabrics in that the dyestuff does not adhere thereto mechanically only, as in lithoemployed disappearstduring" the usuabfinal processes (washing, soaping, lustering, 850.)

which are resorted to for the elimination of the thickening. Of the image there remains,

therefore, only the combined colors upon the printed surface. In this case it seldom occurs that the coloring does not actually dye the fabric and that such coloring-matter'adheres to the fabric through the thickening, as so-called plastic colors-cinnabar,ultramarine, and lampblack, thickened with al-, bumen, casein, gluten, due-are used.

From what has been said it will be seen that in the usual method of printing on fabrics there is neither stiffness nor impurity nor The thickening generallyi;

non-transparency nor cloudiness, yet the prints lack the fineness and softness obtainable by the lithographic process; and it is the object of our invention to obtain a product which while having the fineness and softness of the lithographic products and which will be actually dyed, as in the usual printing methods, at the same time will be free from the undesirable features of the two processes.

Attempts have been made, but without success, to substitute for the insoluble lithographic inks the tannic-acid salts of the basic artificial dyes of the .type of tannic-acid rosanilin and mauvein. This class of dyestuli's is a very large one, yet readily recognizable if their aqueous solutions are reacted upon witha tannic-acid solution, and if a precipitate difficult of solution when cold is obtained it is conclusive proof that it is one of those which can be used in carrying out the presentinvention. Thoughthesetannatesare only slightly soluble when cold, they are sufficiently soluble when warm, and we avail ourselves of this characteristic in the carrying out of our process. Instead of using these basic colors in the form of tannates we convert the same into other lakes which are capable of readily yielding up their coloring-matter. We have also found that in this manner we are en abled to make use of all coloring-matters,even the non-basic. The base of this lake is an indifferent body, as pipe-clay, porcelain-clay, carbon, &c., colored in a solution of any desired coloring-matter which can best be effected while hot, and during the cooling the material is stirred. The lake is then washed in cold water and filtered, pressed, and dried and mixed with lithographic varnish by rubbing, as usual. The function of the varnish is to temporarily retain 011 the paper from which the color is to be transferred to the fabric to be dyed the soluble colors employed. The base of thelake, pipe-clay, 850., whichbut feebly retains the soluble coloringmatter, is mixed with the varnish, and consequently adheres to the paper with it. The only matter transferred to the fabric from the transfer-paper is the soluble part of the color which is retained by the base of the lake. The varnish and the base adhere to the ICO ' animal-black lake:

paper. We obtain the same results with substances of animal origin, as albumen, glue, casein, the solutions of which we color with the dissolved dyestufis, then allow it to dry and mix it with varnish. V

The following will serve as a description of Rosanilin or its salts may serve as an example, though, as will be readily understood, any other coloring-matter may be used. The proportions of carbon and coloring-matter may vary within very wide limits without affecting the result. One hundred grams rosanilin hydrochlorate are dissolved in from ten to fifteen liters of boiling water, and to this is added from six hundred to eight hundred grams animal-black previously purified by means of hydrochloric acid. The mixture is kept at the boilingpointfor fifteen minutes, stirred, and then allowed to cool, while being constantly stirred. I After settling, the liquid is decanted, and this will be but slightly colored if the black is of good quality. The carbon precipitate is at once filtered, pressed, and dried.

The quantity of varnish employed in the fabrication of the lake varies. In thecase of rosanilin, for example, the quantity va-;

ries according to the depth of shade desired, according to the thickness of the fabric, and according to the degree the design is to be brought out or developed. For a red, a little more intense than medium, one ortwo partsof the lake or tannate of rosanilin are mixed with eight or nine parts of lithographic varnish. If it is desired to obtainv a paler red or even a rose, more or less varnish would be added to the mixture. event the proportions must be practically determined in each case, since they vary with the intesity and duration of the pressure, the temperature, and the degree of impregnation of the fabric with the transfer liquid hereinafter referred to.

The majority of colors, also the natural colorsas indigo, carmine, &c.yield lakes:

which are particularly adapted to the carrying out of this invention. All these carbon lakes, although faultess for fabrics of animal origin-as silk, for exampledo not combine with'vegetahle'fiber. This disadvantage we have remedied in that we treat the fabrics of vegetable origin first with tannate of tin or antimony. To this end we treat vegetable fabrics in the manner above described with the aid of sodium stannate (stannate of soda) and sulfuric acid. After drying we block the fabric twice without washing or drying in a solution of one hundred grams of tannin in ten liters of water, which operation is repeated twice at an interval of half an hour.

After the lapse of another half-hour the fabric is washed and drawn in an unfolded state through a bath composed of from one and emetic in one hundred liters of water.

drawing of the fabric through the bath is ef- In any.

fected at a sufficiently slow rate that each part of such fabric will remain a quarter of an hour in the bath, after which the fabric is washedand dried.

All carbon lakes capable of combining with tin or tannic acid can be used for printing upon fabrics treated with tin or antimony tannate, and the colors are found in the fabric in the same condition as when printed in the usual manner.

Where we use the animalizing process with vegetable-fiber fabrics usually employed for printing upon, we attain the'same good results. This animalizing process is carried out by blocking the fabric in a solution of one part albumen in ten parts water. The albumen is then allowed to set. The carbon colors yield their coloring-matter to the albumen, which adheres very firmly to the fabric; but these transfers lack the genuineness of the metallic tannic-acid salts.

Whatever may be the natureof the mordant or the composition of the transfer-lake, we found that the feeble gumming which printers give to their materials and which does not take up water readily also facilitates ourlithographic transfer.

For the purpose of gumming we repeatedly pad the fabric without intermediate drying in a solution of from five to twenty-five grams gum-tragacanth in one liter of water. The stufi is carried each time under a roller at the bottom ofthe bath and then squeezed out between two padding-cylinders, after which the stuff is dried in a drying-cylinder. The object of this gumming is well known. The small air-bubbles on thesurface of the fabric are driven off and replaced bya fine layer of gum-tragacanth.

Any other gum can replace the gum-tragacanth, and the effect can baheightened by addition to. the gum solution of a substance which facilitates the solution of the color to be printedas, for instance, glycerin in the proportion of from five to twenty-five grams per liter. The gumming also facilitates the taking up of the liquid with which the fabric is moistened before being printed upon. This liquid, which supplies the means necessary to the solution and diffusion of the colors, may be composed as follows: seven hundred grams acetic acid; three hundred grams alcohol, Baum; five to twenty grams gum-tragacanth, and fifteen grams glycerin or glycol. The gum is first swelled in some water and is then slowly added, under constant stirring, to the glycerin, acetic acid, and finally diluted with water. If the action of this liquid is to be increased, the proportion of one or the other of the acid salts mentioned is added in small quantities. Just before printing we impregnate the fabric with the liquid, and this impregnation should be uniform and can readily be effected by handpressure and with a printing-block lined with felt.

. from which the color is to be transferred to the fabric to be dyed is moistened about half an hour before transferring by spraying on the back thereof a transfer liquid free from gum. This liquid, which may also consist of an aqueous solution of from two per cent. to twelve per cent. of acetic acid, facilitates the removal of the soluble color from the paper in printing.

In the printing of fabrics by means of cylinders or rollers the pressure-cylinder, of

metal, presses the fabric to be printed al most directly into the deeply-graven printingcylinder through a cloth blanket and a runner, and the finer and deeper the engraving the tighter and thinner the clothing. Accordingly we provide the lower plate of the press with a lead plate having accurately-parallel surfaces which has not only for its objects the correct positioning thereon of'paper and fabrics, but also acts as an intermediate piece which enhances the action of the pressureblanket and runner. Upon this lead plate are laid from two to five sheets of writingpaper and upon the latter two or three sheets of fine calico. Upon the bed so formed is placed the fabric to be printed and previously impregnated, as above set forth, and upon this is placed the lithographic print. On the back of the latter are placed two or three, sheets of calico and a few sheets of writingpaper, and upon the whole is placed a lead plate similar to the one on the bed-plate of the press, and then follows the actual transfer.

Inasmuch as the greatest pressures produce only bad results and it is necessary to allow the fabric to absorb the coloring constituents, we adopt a. means also resorted to in dyeing and calico-printing in order to facilitate thisactual dyeing. Heat is applied in the form of boiling water or in the form ofsteam, and to this end both metal plates of the press are so arranged as to be heated by a steam-heater coil, for which of course any other system of heating can be substituted.-

The water and other liquids used for impregnating the fabric diffuse more readily through the printing-varnish and the base of the lake and dissolve m'ore coloring-matter when heated than when cold. The fabric while being dyed takes up the coloring-matter from the solution until finally all the coloring-matter on the transfer-paper is absorbed and until the fabric is saturated with coloring-matter. Hence an actual dyeing of the fabric takes place. The hot vapors of the transfer liquid efiect the steaming of the fabric, as is done in calico-printin We have found that byhot printing the actual pressure is materially reduced, and this renders the repeated use of the transfer-paper possible.

It frequently happens that the transferred colors dye the fabric but partially, and to avoid this we treat the pressed and dried fabric in a well-known manner, as if it had been printed with steam-colors-namely, the fabric is hung in a moist chamber heated to form about 25 to 50 centigrade and allowed to remain therein until the dyeing is as uniform as possible-or the fabric may be steamed, as is done in fabric-printing. If this be the case, which can be determined by subjecting a piece to the cleaning process, the fabric is finally subjected to said latter process.

If the colors used are tannic-acid colors and if the fabric has not previously been mordanted with tin or antimony, the tannic-acid colors are fixed upon the fabric by drawing the same through a solution of tartar emetic, after which the fabric is washed. When, however, tannic-aoid colors are printed upon fabrics mordanted with tin or antimony, they are washed without passing them through the fixing solution of tartar emetic. This washing is effected in a large quantity of water in order that the base or ground of the fabric which did not receive the transfer may not be colored.

For the purpose of fixing or clarifying we use a twenty-five per cent. to one-hundred per cent. bran-water, which is renewed whenever it begins to color, or, instead of the bran liquor, pure or distilled water can be used containing from one to two parts of soap to one hundred parts of water. The fabric is then Washed at a temperature of from about 30 to 60 centigrade and the soap-water is renewed as soon as it ceases to foam strongly or as soon as it begins to color. The fabric is then washed and dried. If for any reason asmall amount of the lithographic varnish should be transferred to the fabric with the soluble colors, this washing readily removes it.

Should the fabric from any cause show spots which'may be produced by the action of the tannic acid upon iron, said fabric is drawn through a solution of tin chlorid (two grams tin chlorid per liter of water) until the spots disappear, after which the fabric is Washed.

If paper is used instead of a fabric in the described transfer process, faultless imitations of water-color paintings are obtained.

What we claim is-- l 1. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics, consisting in first forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloring-matter capable of yielding up its coloring-matter, and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

2. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics, consisting in forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake consisting of a suitable substance colored with a suitable coloring-matter and mixed with lithographic varnish, and then transferringthe design or pattern to the fabric.

3. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics consisting in gumming the fabric, forming a print upon a suitable ma terial with a lake of the desired coloringmatfor capable of yielding up its coloring-matter, and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

4. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics consisting in gumming the fabric with a solution of gum to which has been added a substance capable of facilitating the solution of color to be printed, forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloring-matter capable of yield ing up its coloring-matter, and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

5. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics, consisting in treating the fabric with a suitable mordant and gumming the fabric with a solution of gum to which has been added a substance capable of facilitating the solution of color to be printed, forming a print upon'a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloring-matter capable of yielding up its coloi'inginatter, and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

6. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics, consisting in treating the fabric with a suitable mordant, forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloring-matter capable of yielding up its coloring-matter, and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

7. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics,-consisting in treating the fabric with a suitable mordant, forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of a tannic-acid color and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

8. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics, consisting in treating the fabric with tannate of a suitable metal, forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloringmatter capable of yielding up its coloring-matter, and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

9. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics of vegetable origin, consisting in treating the fabric with a substance capable of causing the lake subsequently used to combine therewith, forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloring-matter capable of yielding up its coloring-matter, and then transferring the design or pattern to the fabric.

10. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics, consisting in gumming the fabric by passing the same through agum solution and then squeezing it, impregnating the gummed fabric With a suitable transfer liquid, forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloring-matter capable of readily yielding up its coloringmatter, and then transferring the design to the fabric.

11. The process of producing designs or patterns on fabrics, consisting in gumming the fabric, impregnating the gummed fabric with a suitable transfer liquid, forming a print upon a suitable material with a lake of the desired coloring-matter capable of readily yielding up its coloring-matter, bringing the surface of the print into contact with the fabric and transferring the design to the fabric by the application of heat and pressure.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JULES ERNEST HESSE. MATHIAS PARAF-JAVAL.

Witnesses:

LOUIS DOMINIQUE AUGUSTE CASALONQE, ANTONIO FERNANDO DE LA CALLE. 

